The fighting underway in Yemen is a proxy war with the Iranians behind the curtain, retired Gen. Paul Vallely said Friday on
Newsmax TV's "America's Forum."
"That's what Iran does," said Vallely. "They use their proxies to expand their influence."
There is already a pan-Arab force countering the Shiite Muslims who invaded the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Wednesday and captured parts of its second-largest city, Aden.
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"It's made up of five different countries right now because of the disengagement of the United States," according to Vallely. "You have the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt now pulling together in a planning strategy and they've already had meetings in order to bring about a counterforce to what's going on with the initiatives of Iran's supporting the Shias and the Houthis down there in Yemen. They have gone forward into their first phrase, which is really bringing the Saudis and the Egyptians together in a counterforce operation."
CNN reports that the Saudis consider the Houthis proxies for Iran's Shiite government and fear another Shiite-dominated state in the region.
The Arab nations should not look to President Barack Obama to come to their aid as he has tunnel-vision on forging a nuclear deal with the Iranians, according to Vallely.
"This president is not going to do any more," Vallely said. "He's focused completely on this Iran agreement, which falls apart one day and comes together the next. Certainly, Iran is on a path to become a hegemonic power and as far as I know from what I've been able to obtain, they already have a nuclear capability. They have launch systems, the guidance systems and they've tested their systems with North Korea.